Video page
What you see before a video starts in PlayLingo — Saved, Description and Similar tabs, the mode and subtitle rows, and the Watch button.
When you tap a video, PlayLingo first opens the video page. Here you choose how to study the video and which subtitles to use, then start it with one button.
How to start a video
- Tap a video in Explore, Home, Following or search results.
- Check the mode row — it shows the mode you’ll start in. Tap it to pick another mode.
- Check the subtitles row — it shows the chosen track. Tap it to pick another one.
- Tap the main button. It’s named after the selected mode, for example Watch or Build.
The mode you chose last time is kept for the next video. See Modes overview.
Tabs under the video
- Saved — words you saved from this video.
- Description — the author’s description. If the video has Chapters, they are listed here with their length.
- Similar — more videos from the same channel.
Tap the channel name under the title to open the channel. From there you can follow it — see Following channels.
Choose a subtitle track
Tap the subtitles row to open Subtitles. At the top you see the first line of the selected track, so you can judge its quality before watching.
Tracks are grouped into Language of this video, Your languages and Other languages (tap Show All to see the rest). Each track can come in different kinds:
- Auto — YouTube’s speech recognition as it comes: no punctuation, lines cut by time.
- Channel — uploaded by the channel author. Quality ranges from excellent to very poor.
- Enhanced — adapted for language learning: split into sentences, with punctuation added. Preparing takes a few seconds the first time.
If the video’s track is in your native language, a different set of modes becomes available. See Reverse modes.
Report a subtitle problem
- In Subtitles, tap the Info button in the top left corner.
- About subtitles explains the track kinds.
- At the bottom, tap Report a problem and describe what’s wrong — wrong words or timing.
Common questions
The button says Preparing
PlayLingo is getting the subtitles ready. Wait a few seconds.
The page says “No Subtitles” or “Video Unavailable”
The video can’t be used for learning. See Video won’t open.
Which track should I choose?
For learning, Enhanced is usually the easiest to read. Pick Channel when the author uploaded careful subtitles.
Related guides
- Modes overviewWatch, Understand, Listen, Build and Speak — PlayLingo’s modes turn the same video into listening, sentence-building and speaking practice. Here’s when to use each.
- Subtitle tracksHow to pick the subtitle language and track type for a YouTube video in PlayLingo — Enhanced, Auto and Channel — and report bad subtitles.
- Add a YouTube videoOpen any YouTube video, playlist or channel in PlayLingo — paste a link, share it from the YouTube app or search right inside the app.
- Video won’t openWhat to do when a YouTube video won’t open in PlayLingo — “Video Unavailable”, “No Subtitles”, “Sign In Required” and region restrictions.